466 Melbourne University Law Review [Vol 40:456 immediately after birth and shall have a name’,52 and that ‘[e]very child has the right to acquire a nationality.’53 Similarly, art 7(1) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that ‘[the] child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.’54 This is replicated in art 18(2) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with respect to children with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of the Child also provides that: States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.55 It is noteworthy that during the drafting of the 1961 Convention, the Argentine representative referred to art 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the right to a nationality)56 ‘to emphasize the psychological importance of a child acquiring a nationality at birth and of knowing that he would have the right to keep it when he reached his majority, provided he complied with certain conditions.’57 Subsequent academic work has confirmed both the fundamental importance of and ongoing challenges in ensuring access to citizenship for children globally.58 Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women provides that ‘States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality’,59 and ‘shall 52 ICCPR art 24(2). 53 Ibid art 24(3). As noted in above n 21, this does not necessarily require states to grant nationality to every child born in their territory unless they would otherwise be stateless. 54 Australia has ratified with no relevant reservations: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Reservations, Declarations and Objections Relating to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc CRC/C/2/Rev.3 (11 July 1994) 12. 55 Convention on the Rights of the Child art 7(2). 56 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN Doc A/810, art 15. 57 UN Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness, Summary Record of the Fourth Plenary Meeting, UN GAOR, 4th plen mtg, Agenda Item 7, UN Doc A/CONF.9/SR.4 (24 April 1961) 3. 58 Jacqueline Bhabha’s work is particularly authoritative: see, eg, Jacqueline Bhabha, ‘From Citizen to Migrant: The Scope of Child Statelessness in the Twenty-First Century’ in Jacqueline Bhabha (ed), Children without a State: A Global Human Rights Challenge (MIT Press, 2011) 1; Jacqueline Bhabha, Child Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age (Princeton University Press, 2014). 59 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women art 9(1).